Decision Analyst's Economic Index Slumps In March: Stock Market And Consumer Confidence Both Hit.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- First quarter confidence has ended on a distinctly depressed note; that's according to Decision Analyst's latest U.S. Economic Index. After a moderate fall in February the Index fell sharply in March, down four points to 107, the lowest level since October 2004.

Decision Analyst U.S. Economic Index for the Past 13 Months
2004          March                  113
              April                  111
              May                    106
              June                   111
              July                   114
              August                 113
              September              111
              October                107
              November               109
              December               111
2005          January                112
              February               111
              March                  107

"The decline in the Index that was a cause for concern in February is now a serious worry in March," said Jerry W. Thomas, President and CEO of Decision Analyst, a marketing research and marketing consulting firm. "For the third time in the last year, the Index has moved towards economic contraction, showing just how fragile confidence is."

While it was not all doom and gloom for the March Economic Index -- business activity continued to recover from turn-of-the-year losses -- the overall picture was not good. Confidence in the stock market and consumer purchase intent were both down nine percent over February; confidence in prices slumped 17 percent.

"It's clear that concerns over prices -- especially gasoline -- are hitting consumer confidence hard," Thomas said. "As long as consumers remain uncertain about the cost of such an essential commodity, it's hard to see a strong performance for the economy."

Methodology: The Decision Analyst Economic Index is based on a monthly Internet survey of several thousand households balanced by gender, age, and geography. The survey is conducted during the last 10 days of each month, and the Index is immediately calculated from nine different economic measurements, using a sophisticated econometric model. The result is a snapshot of current U.S. economic activity, as seen through the eyes of representative consumers. Decision Analyst also conducts concurrent economic surveys in Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Mexico, and Australia. Whenever the Decision Analyst Economic Index is greater than 110, it tends to signal an expanding economy. An Index value of 100 to 110 suggests a stagnant economy, and below 100 generally indicates economic contraction. These guidelines vary by country, however.

About Decision Analyst

Decision Analyst (www.decisionanalyst.com) is a leading marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical and pharmaceutical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. Decision Analyst operates American Consumer Opinion(R) Online, one of the world's largest Internet consumer opinion panels, with more than 3.5 million participants.